Campaign Status
Ongoing Online: The campaign is currently ongoing online, and as a result, the fundraising process continues.
Summary
The campaign aims to construct and equip a healthcare center to provide access to healthcare for 816 children, 425 women, and the entire rural population of 1,500.
Challenge
Access to healthcare is a significant challenge in the Bakwa community. Mary, a young mother from Bakwa, shares her harrowing experience of walking 40 kilometers while heavily pregnant to reach the nearest healthcare facility in Bassa for antenatal care. Unable to make it in time, she was forced to give birth by the roadside with the help of a passerby. Her story underscores the dire need for a local health center, highlighting the dangers faced by 425 women who currently rely on unsafe herbal remedies due to a lack of accessible antenatal care. Many pregnant women like Mary face this challenge, with some losing their lives and their newborns as a result.
Afor Peter, a 70-year-old resident of Bakwa, also recounts his frequent 80-kilometer treks to Njikwa District Hospital to seek medical help for his chronic illness. The exhausting journey often exacerbates his condition, and sometimes he is forced to go without treatment. Peter’s story highlights the plight of the elderly and children in the Bakwa community, emphasizing the urgent necessity of establishing a local health facility to provide immediate and continuous care for the 1,500 vulnerable residents of Bakwa and nearby communities.
Access to healthcare in the Bakwa community is a significant challenge, with pregnant and breastfeeding mothers resorting to unsafe herbal remedies due to a lack of antenatal care. Women, children, and the elderly often have to trek long distances—up to 80 kilometers—to access healthcare. This has resulted in 50 deaths and 10 women giving birth along roadsides without medical assistance (source: interview with 20 women in this community), exacerbating maternal and infant mortality rates. The urgent establishment and equipping of a health facility in Bakwa are necessary not only to address these issues but also to serve nearby communities, such as Batanga, Assaka, and Ikwebo, which also lack adequate healthcare access.
Solution
The campaign aims to improve healthcare access for 816 children, 425 women, and the entire rural population of 1,500 in Bakwa and nearby communities by completing and equipping the Bakwa Integrated Health Centre. This will provide essential healthcare services to pregnant women, children, the elderly, and the entire population of Bakwa, as well as the neighboring communities of Batanga, Assaka, and Ikwebo. The initiative is expected to increase antenatal care uptake and reduce maternal and infant mortality rates.
Since 2022, LISUDEV has partnered with others to enhance access to healthcare, WASH, and education for over 2,000 women, young girls, and children in rural communities, particularly those affected by armed conflict in the Northwest region of Cameroon.
Join us today to make a difference! Together, we can build a more sustainable future for women and children in Bakwa.
